Bound Images: Maps in Books, 1500-1850

When most people think of maps and books they immediately imagine maps, or atlases. Yet maps illustrate and contribute to a larger argument in books of all kinds, including histories, geographies, travel accounts, and novels. Beyond atlases, maps are often studied or collected as individual items, or “sovereign” maps, in the words of French scholar Christian Jacob. This discussion dethrones the sovereign map, asking what changes theoretically and curatorially when we think about maps as “bound images” and a graphic part of the story told by authors and printers in book form.